E-I-E-I-Otaku?! Nani???
It has recently come to my attention the absolute mania that pervades the use of this word: Otaku. It seems that every two-bit anime viewer who has seen at least two complete series or a substantially high number of anime movies considers him/herself an 'otaku'. This disgraceful phenomenon exists mainly in the males of our predominantly male societies. Irony seems to follow closely to the heels of this strange foreign word, obviously with Japanese origins, but mistranslated and now unfortunately mutated into the frightening Franken-Dracula-Goku love child it is. After a gruelling conversation with the highly learned in all things Japanese and 'anime' [emphasis on the apostrophes], I have come to the final conclusion.
All self-proclaimed 'otaku' should be dragged out into the streets; still clinging to their Escaflownes and Evangelions; and a swift-but-sure, precise-but-powerful, world-shattering shotgun should be efficiently utilised to render their sorry poser carcasses vulture-meat. In short, 'otaku' does not mean what you western mongrels make it out to be.
Being an 'otaku' does not grant you wisdom beyond all living creatures, it does not catapult you into the upper echelons of social scrutiny, it does not mean that you are 'cool' all of a sudden just because you spent all day with your behind planted in your sofa watching cartoons. Because at the end of the day...what you are is a nerd.
Of course, being a nerd is not a bad thing per se. Au contrair, it is actually a good thing. I myself am a nerd and I have laid waste to many an anime, manga, RPG and movie. But I don't go around parading that fact around. I don't suddenly expect damsels to land at my feet, clawing and tugging at me, begging me to grace their ears with a single word of deeply amorous undertones. Although that would be nice.
No, the fact of the matter is...there are different classifications of 'nerd'. There are nerds who, having spent the better part of their education careers involved with computers, are modern-day Mithrandirs...capable of more magicks with their keyboards than Gandalf himself. Then there are the nerds who are so involved with a particular fictional universe, that they devote their spare time making theories about how the moon of Endor shouldve been decimated by a fallout of cataclysmic proportions. Yes, extreme, but at least those guys dont want any special treatment sans the occasional mercy.
But now, with the advent of the wonderful creation known as 'anime' as a leading pop-culture source, some lame-brained Miyazaki-wannabe decided to take a quite uncool word in Japanese and turn it into a phenomenon, with geeks in the geek pantheon vying for dominion as the 'otaku' overlord. Go. Shoot. Yourselves. Please.
The word 'otaku' in japanese means 'maniac'. This word causes images of greasy, fat, bespectacled couch-potatoes too afraid of vitamin D to give fresh air and sunlight a chance; to float through the vortex that is the average japanese mind.
It does not cause images of super-beings too powerful for humanity to control and too weak for God to take into His bosom...to appear. Stop. Calling. Yourselves. That.
I am frankly quite disgusted by the average anime-enthusiast who reads a thing or two on japanese culture and learns a few words in japanese to suddenly declare him/herself [usually him], accompanied by proud smile, an 'otaku'. Sure, great accomplishment...let me contact Time Magazine. The scoop of the century. w00t. j00 @r3 teh r0x0rz!
The word 'otaku' was simply butchered by the west in much the same way as the word 'hentai' was. Great, now that I have piqued your waning attentions with the 'h' word...might as well explain it. The word 'hentai' in japanese means 'pervert' or 'sexual predator'...that's it. It does in no way connote a genre as a whole. It's like calling pornography 'pervert'. Like the now-[in]famous "All your base are belong to us" line...it simply became a part of pop-culture due to some 30-year old 50-inch waistlined dorito-muncher who couldn't come to grips with the subtle intricacies of the japanese syntax.
So my point and request is this...please! Enough is enough! Japanese is a beautiful language, don't butcher it, for everytime some 'Hello Kitty' cosplaying non-japanese person with delusions of grandeur calls himself an 'otaku' to express his clear superiority over the rest of us inferior beings...a part of Japanese culture dies. The japanese language is meant as a form of communication with our Japanese counterparts. Dont embarass the human race and the good people of Japan by calling yourself 'otaku' simply because you watched a bunch of bootlegged anime. It is nothing to be proud of. Stop it.
Please.
Ciao.
All self-proclaimed 'otaku' should be dragged out into the streets; still clinging to their Escaflownes and Evangelions; and a swift-but-sure, precise-but-powerful, world-shattering shotgun should be efficiently utilised to render their sorry poser carcasses vulture-meat. In short, 'otaku' does not mean what you western mongrels make it out to be.
Being an 'otaku' does not grant you wisdom beyond all living creatures, it does not catapult you into the upper echelons of social scrutiny, it does not mean that you are 'cool' all of a sudden just because you spent all day with your behind planted in your sofa watching cartoons. Because at the end of the day...what you are is a nerd.
Of course, being a nerd is not a bad thing per se. Au contrair, it is actually a good thing. I myself am a nerd and I have laid waste to many an anime, manga, RPG and movie. But I don't go around parading that fact around. I don't suddenly expect damsels to land at my feet, clawing and tugging at me, begging me to grace their ears with a single word of deeply amorous undertones. Although that would be nice.
No, the fact of the matter is...there are different classifications of 'nerd'. There are nerds who, having spent the better part of their education careers involved with computers, are modern-day Mithrandirs...capable of more magicks with their keyboards than Gandalf himself. Then there are the nerds who are so involved with a particular fictional universe, that they devote their spare time making theories about how the moon of Endor shouldve been decimated by a fallout of cataclysmic proportions. Yes, extreme, but at least those guys dont want any special treatment sans the occasional mercy.
But now, with the advent of the wonderful creation known as 'anime' as a leading pop-culture source, some lame-brained Miyazaki-wannabe decided to take a quite uncool word in Japanese and turn it into a phenomenon, with geeks in the geek pantheon vying for dominion as the 'otaku' overlord. Go. Shoot. Yourselves. Please.
The word 'otaku' in japanese means 'maniac'. This word causes images of greasy, fat, bespectacled couch-potatoes too afraid of vitamin D to give fresh air and sunlight a chance; to float through the vortex that is the average japanese mind.
It does not cause images of super-beings too powerful for humanity to control and too weak for God to take into His bosom...to appear. Stop. Calling. Yourselves. That.
I am frankly quite disgusted by the average anime-enthusiast who reads a thing or two on japanese culture and learns a few words in japanese to suddenly declare him/herself [usually him], accompanied by proud smile, an 'otaku'. Sure, great accomplishment...let me contact Time Magazine. The scoop of the century. w00t. j00 @r3 teh r0x0rz!
The word 'otaku' was simply butchered by the west in much the same way as the word 'hentai' was. Great, now that I have piqued your waning attentions with the 'h' word...might as well explain it. The word 'hentai' in japanese means 'pervert' or 'sexual predator'...that's it. It does in no way connote a genre as a whole. It's like calling pornography 'pervert'. Like the now-[in]famous "All your base are belong to us" line...it simply became a part of pop-culture due to some 30-year old 50-inch waistlined dorito-muncher who couldn't come to grips with the subtle intricacies of the japanese syntax.
So my point and request is this...please! Enough is enough! Japanese is a beautiful language, don't butcher it, for everytime some 'Hello Kitty' cosplaying non-japanese person with delusions of grandeur calls himself an 'otaku' to express his clear superiority over the rest of us inferior beings...a part of Japanese culture dies. The japanese language is meant as a form of communication with our Japanese counterparts. Dont embarass the human race and the good people of Japan by calling yourself 'otaku' simply because you watched a bunch of bootlegged anime. It is nothing to be proud of. Stop it.
Please.
Ciao.
posted by Shampad | 4:16 PM
2 Comments:
:) Hey. Just wanted to thank you for that sweet note you left in my blog...and really enjoyed this rant of yours.
Whatever you may think about LC's style, I think the two of you have a LOT in common when it comes to writing...which I hope you'll take as a compliment and not otherwise, because personally I think LC is bril...and whatever I've read of your work so far, I liked...so keep writing!
I have no qualms about LC's style...it's just different from mine, that's all. Yeah...unfortunately, a 'common' friend to both LC and mine told us the same thing about our 'similarities' [i see not what you people are talking about]!
My ambitions run very deep...so expect me to keep writing until i either become crippled or until i die.
(^_^)
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